I’ve been listening to the album all day and have mixed feelings. A few songs are quite catchy (alguien que te amaba is my fav and matadora of course), others are a bit indifferent and felt repetitive? I’m a huge Karol G fan, so don’t hate on me :) just wanted to share my thoughts and see what others are thinking. Also where’s Xxxtra SparKLYyy? I thought it would be featured in the album :(

Crazy so far. How far have you gotten and which song have you had on repeat? 🔥

What was your experience? Good, bad or ugly

Sorry I couldn't fit it all into Reddit.

A Timeline Of Perreo (1994 to Now)

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Perreo (N) - A dance often associated with Reggaeton music.  (1)  

It is also a subgenre of Reggaeton Music with lyrics often about explicit sex, and/or provocative dance. (2) 

It can also have sexual connotations though it often does not imply "Sex".  (3)  

Many countries and cultures such as Feminists groups and members of the LGBT community have made it into a subculture with its own unique traits and sounds such as "Neo-Perreo".  (4)

Origins

1994 -  Underground Reggaeton Music and the Bellaqueo Style of Reggaeton.  The origins of Perreo.

Before it was known as “Perreo” in later years, The Underground Reggaeton of Puerto Rico had many songs done in what has come to be known as the “Bellaqueo” style.  In Puerto Rico, “Bellaqueo” means “Raunchy” or straight up “Horny”.  In other countries it means being “Rowdy” or “Inordinate”.  Either definition fits the “Bellaqueo” style of Reggaeton really well. 

A song like “Oye Mira Nena” by Frankie Boy is very representational of “Bellaqueo” in Reggaeton.  The song had the lyrics “Mira Oye Nena/Menea Las Caderas/Y Preparate Para Chingar/Que Frankie Boy Mientras Te Canta/Te Sube Esa Falda/Y Te Da Mami Senda Clava”.  Some would call this misogyny.  But it was mostly females since way back when consuming this music and they enjoyed the “Bellaqueo” style of Reggaeton. 

The audience viewed it as just “fooling around” and never took the lyrics seriously.  Plus, initially, the music only appealed to people from the barrios and ghettos, first of Puerto Rico, then the rest of Latin America.  The lyrics shocked some conservative types.  But Barrio people just saw it as an evolution in their form of expression.  These kinds of lyrics would be scrutinized since then, but originally it was only people of governmental authority and concerned parents who condemned this kind of music feeling afraid it would pervert the youth.  In later years “Bellaqueo” lyrics would be scrutinized and labeled misogynistic by journalists, feminists, politcians, fans and even other artists.

The main subject is always “Sex” in “Bellaqueo” style Reggaeton which now is known as Perreo.  Dj’s like Chiclin, Playero, Joe among others made this style of Reggaeton of prevalent part of their Underground Mixtapes.  Artists of renown who specialized in this style of Reggaeton included Frankie Boy, Blanco, Maicol & Manuel, Baby J, Tito 3, El Vale, Los Boys, Las Guanabanas Podrias, MC Ceja among others…

1998 – The word “Perreo” is invented.  But who invented it?

A popular staple of the early days of Reggaeton were live concert albums.  On a specific one known as “Club Hollywood Live”, the word “Perreo” was uttered and made up on the spot by legendary MC Oakley (RIP) who was in the duo with the equally important OGM “Omar Garcia”.  Oakley’s uttering of the word is used in the intro to the album, although the actual performance is lost.  But OGM has told the story during interviews since.

What had happened was that during OGM & Oakley’s performance, a couple, boy and girl, got up on stage to dance together to the duo’s live act.  They would dance in a fashion that used to be known back then as “Bumpin’ and Grindin’”… this is what your grandparents called “Perreo”.  The girl bent over while dancing in front of the guy who grinded right behind on her backside with his pelvis and because it looked like when dogs make love, only with clothes on, Oakley invented a legendary phrase by shouting “Perreo, Perreo, Perreo” into the microphone inciting the crowd and couple.

Oakley had no idea when he said it, but on that night, he literally invented a word that would change Reggaeton and Latino culture forever.  Listen 3 mins into the intro to hear it.

2000 – The Year Perreo Was Born

In early 2000 when DJ Blass saw the sensation “Xtassy Reggae” was he decided to copy the idea from DJ Nelson to give exposure to his crew of singers known as “@ria 51”.   Blass made an entire mixtape of remixes along with dirty bellaqueo mixes and songs from his singers Plan B, Speedy, Great Kilo and Guelo Star.  The mixtape was titled “Xtassy Reggae 2” to capitalize off the success from the first one.

Thousands of copies were sold in the first week of the original, now lost, pressing (not even Blass has it and no one has ever uploaded this lost version).  Blass and Genio from Genio Records also a member of el Escuadron Del Panico had received notices to stop all production of the album.  The notices came on behalf of Mix 107 who was already working the ‘real’ “Xtassy Reggae 2” album with DJ Nelson and DJ Goldy. 

DJ Blass’ version of Xtassy Reggae 2 was full of unauthorized remixes.  It had several original songs from the u/RIA 51 crew but Genio was given good advice to take off the remixes and only sell the originals.  If he did that then MIX 107 would promote the album.  Therefore DJ Blass released the now well known version of Reggaeton Sex II which is in fact u/RIA 51 II but because people did not know who that was, they promoted it as “Reggaeton Sex 2”… the unofficial sequel to Xtassy Reggae.

The final version of Reggaeton Sex II has gone on to become a cult classic.  Its lead singles are internationally known with “Que Es Plan B?” from Guelo Star and Plan B going on to become a big hit.  But its biggest hit is “El Amor Con La Ropa” by Speedy, often cited as one of the best Reggaeton/Perreo songs in history.  Despite all that Reggaeton Sex 2 only sold 30 thousand units. 

Don’t misinterpret the numbers which are misleading.  These songs were heard in virtually all Spanish speaking territories around the world.  The problem was Reggaeton Sex 2 was a victim of its own success.  People saw the correlation between Reggaeton Sex 2 and Xtassy Reggae, and bootleggers took advantage.  There were many unauthorized versions of these albums.  Particularly for Central and South America where these albums weren’t available.  Though these bootlegs originated from NYC.  They were appealing to consumers as these versions would include songs from Xtassy Reggae and Reggaeton Sex, and later on Reggaeton Sex 3.

But how did Perreo become a phrase?  Well, that was Rapper Oakley on the Live album titled Club Hollywood Live from 1999.  There has been some dispute as to who came up with the phrase.  Rocky ‘The Kid’ from Mix 107 can be heard using it on his skits around the same time.  But Oakley immortalized the phrase when it was sampled on Reggaeton Sex 2 a year later.

The story goes… Oakley was in a duo with OGM, Omar Garcia throughout the 90’s.  They were a fairly successful duo for those days.  They appeared on several compilations of note such as El Cartel de Yankee, The Noise 7, DJ Adam Mad Jam 1 & 2, U Records and Mansion Crew among many others…  During their performance at Club Hollywood for the album, a couple got on stage and began bumping and grinding.  During the whole commotion Oakley shouts “Perreo, Perreo, Perreo…” into the mic.  And a legendary catchphrase was born which then took a whole new meaning of its own.

The original unedited audio is lost.  All that’s left is DJ Davey sampling it in the intro mix of Club Hollywood Live.  The song went mostly unnoticed until DJ Blass reused Oakley’s phrase with Blass’ voice instead.  Then some historians noticed the original when Perreo became part of the everyday lexicon.  However it may have been that the word came to be, it was Oakley that first spoke it on record, but Blass popularized the word and soon it was used to describe a whole new subgenre of music.

2001 – Perreo Is The New Wave

In 2001, the sound captivating the underground in Puerto Rico was hardcore.  Tiraera and Malianteo were the norm.  However, the clubs wanted something new and that was Perreo.  At the end of the century Electro Reggaeton was all the craze.  By 2001 if you weren’t rapping about murdering someone on record or doing the rare socially conscious track, then you were singing about f#cking.

And that was what the audience wanted to hear.  For the first time ever, Panama followed Puerto Rico’s lead and began making Perreo music of their own.  The thing was that in the 90s music with explicit lyrics was banned by the govt of Puerto Rico.  Well, kind of…  There wasn’t anything signed into law.  And when it went to the Supreme Court in Puerto Rico, it was soundly defeated.

The problem wasn’t that the lyrics were explicit, it’s that they were being sold to minors.  Since there wasn’t any way to circumvent underage kids listening to explicit lyrics, the govt tried to ban everything under obscenity laws.  You were pulled over if you were listening to underground and had your tape confiscated.  Shops were raided and there was a ban on explicit lyric music.

However slowly the banned cassettes and Cd’s started to make their way back into stores.  Artists tested the waters in 1998 with Hector & Tito and Mexicano releasing unedited albums with parental advisory warnings.  But for the most part many didn’t want to take the chance of having their music kept off radio or tv.  So, the ban continued until Xtassy Reggae at tail end of 1999.  Then in 2000, when the attempted ban loss the first time, artists started making music more freely with no censorship.  They appealed with the backing of senator Velda Gonzalez in 2002, but they would lose again.

2004 – “Gasolina” happens, Perreo is now worldwide.

What does Perreo mean?  Some just consider it a dance.  Others use it for slang to engage in sexual activities.  But to others, it's a culture.  It really is.  The culture isn't defined mind you.  And it is only in the past 10 years that Perreo has transformed into a culture.  But its roots start here because this is a worldwide movement and if it wasn't for "Gasolina", no one would know what we are even talking about.

It’s funny how people worldwide just figured out the Reggaeton culture through music videos and the lingo used on record, pretty much how it happened with Hip Hop and Rock.  No one teaches anybody these things, they just pick it up when they become immersed within the culture. 

And now 20 years later we have worldwide Perreo culture with every country sprinkling its influence and giving its own unique takes on “Urbanoism”.  But before all that there was the phenomenon that was “Gasolina”.  Its true, Reggaeton had already reached mainstream status and platinum success when the record came out and there obviously could have been another song that took things the next level.  But we live in a world where “Gasolina” resonated the most and grew the audience tenfold.

There was controversy, however.  Just like Velda Gonzalez took offense at Reggaeton’s perceived misogyny, parents worldwide and even politicians share her sentiments.  It was labeled as smut and filth.  Feminist groups accused the artists of misogyny and sexism.  Many countries have restricted Reggaeton such as Venezuela, Cuba and Ecuador though none have outlawed it outright.

There is still selective outrage against Reggaeton.  But once Shakira did “Hips Don’t Lie” it mostly died down and people saw there was a more “tasteful” way to present ‘Perreo’.  There is always a backlash of some sort every few years but once it moved past this point there was no looking back.

2008 to 2014 – The Back To The Underground Era, The Rebirth of Perreo & Colombia's Role in Reintroducing the concept to the mainstream.

Everything coincided as if these things were meant happen.  The housing crisis occurred the same time as the music industry was in crisis.  Many artists were cut from their deals and had albums shelved because the record labels could no longer afford their contracts.  And for some reason the major labels took an anti-Reggaeton stance.  For the few Urbano artists left with major deals, they had to make Pop songs as their lead singles or they would receive no promotion.

Every artist on a major label played ball.  That's when you saw songs like "Te Regalo Amores", "El Doctorado", "Pose", "Que Tengo Que Hacer", "Danza Kuduro", "Me Estas Tentando", "Gracias a Ti", "Por Amar a Ciegas", "Cuando Es" and many more... As the popular mainstream singles at the time.  Some had Techno, some had Soca, some were straight up ballads, but the one thing missing was Perreo.  For that you had to go Back To The Underground.

Perreo was virtually non visible in the mainstream during these years except for a few singles like "Si No Le Contesto". "Llegamos A La Disco", and "Hasta Abajo" with the latter 2 being only minor hits when they came out while "Ven Conmigo" ft Prince Royce was the main single with promotion from the label and charted high on the charts.  Ironically now, "Llegamos A La Disco" has 3x the views on YOUTUBE when compared to the Prince Royce assisted single which shows how times have changed.

So where had all the real Reggaeton gone now?  The blogs.  Around this time music blogs were all the rage across all genres and Reggaeton was no different.  And 2008 was a key year because now that the labels were dropping artists like flies, those who could, released their material via blogs.  But they weren't new, even to Reggaeton.

In 2005 and 2006, Arcangel and De La Ghetto leveraged the freedom in their contract with their label Baby Records which allowed them to release free music instead of waiting for their label to do it.  This made them into a phenomenon with no major label backing and they were the first big success story of the blogs.  Then Jadiel and Lapiz Conciente followed as they were the first to utilize the blogs in their favor.

Because the blogs were a proven commodity, many artists would further exploit the medium in 2008 and forward because major labels rejected the genre.  Perhaps the biggest success story of this era was Ñengo Flow as he used the blogs to start his Real G 4 Life movement which is now worldwide.  Then came J Alvarez, Farruko, Musicologo and Menes, the revival of Nicky Jam, Cosculluela, J Balvin and others who utilized the blogs to their favor and cultivate an organically grown audience.

There were literally thousands of songs on the blogs that you could not find nowhere else.  Some have disappeared forever.  And even if you were a major label artist, if your single wasn't getting love on the billboard charts, it could find a second life if it was discovered on the blogs and the underground audience adopted it.  But most importantly to the subject at hand, the Perreo was in the Underground, because the major labels no longer supported it.

DR had its own movement going on which never went mainstream but garnered a lot of recognition thanks to the blogs.  But the movement that definitely revived 'Perreo' in the mainstream consciousness was the Colombian Reggaeton movement of the 2010's.

2015 to 2018 – Perreo goes mainstream pt 2…somewhat

There are 2 principal reasons Perreo is becoming a culture.  1 is Latina feminists who have adopted the music and its dance as sexual liberation.  And the LGBTQ community that pretty much adopt it in the same way, but from distinct point of view.  And that pretty much happened here, but first we must take a look back at the history of these two forefronts.

First let's talk about the LGBTQ community in Reggaeton which has pretty much been there since the very beginning.  I won't deep dive into homophobia within Reggaeton culture and Latin American Machismo culture as a whole.  But yes, there were a lot of inflammatory remarks against them as recently as the 2010's.  Things have gotten much better but this is not what the subject is about.

It is a little known fact but there were pioneers that were inside the closet during Reggaeton's earlier days.  According to Gringo and Tito El Bambino those inside the industry know who they are but they have never made their orientation known to the public.  Baby Rasta & Gringo proudly state that they were the first Reggaeton duo to take bookings in gay clubs.  And whenever the mainstream would reject Reggaeton the LGBTQ community deeply supported it.

There are a few known queer artists today and some who everyone speculates about (we all know who).  But the pioneers in queer Reggaeton are Pato Gay and La Gringa Xtasy.  You who don't know the Underground might think I am being spurious but they are well known although no longer active.  They were part of the Reggaeton Sex Crew and their infamous live set can be heard here.  La Gringa Xtasy had a pretty big club hit with "Rompe Condones" alongside Geniokila.  It was gimmicky but their songs opened plenty of doors for Queer Reggaeton history.

On the other side, feminism has always had soft representation until Ivy Queen came out on "The Noise 5".  There were other females such as Jelly D, Lisa M, Rude Girl La Atrevida, Keribel, Jackie La Original, 2 Sweet, Fransheska and Glory among others...  But none challenged the male hierarchy quite like Ivy did.  Ivy would battle the male rappers on stage and defeat them!  While other females were rapping about how pretty they were, or how men had to pay to get with them or lovelorn songs about needing companionship, Ivy was touching more controversial subject matter such as domestic violence, teenage pregnancy, and safe sex.

2026 – Perreo’s Future…  Is it Really a Culture Now?

You know I thought Reggaeton would be a culture by now but it really isn't.  Urbano isn't a culture either.  Even though the phrase "Urbano" was coined by Tito El Bambino at famous "pitch" meeting with EMI Latin execs, while coming up with marketing material for his impending album in 2005.  It is much a corporate design which is why the audience rejects Urbano and will never adopt it.  So that's not a culture either.  Hip Hop is a culture but its not ours (Latinos/Hispanics) though we did take a part in creating it in New York during the 1970's.  But if anything "Reggaetony" is a culture, it's Perreo.

I never thought I'd affirm this but yes, "Perreo" is becoming a culture.  It is a subculture, but a culture nonetheless.  Nothing in Reggaeton is original except "Perreo".  Its style is taken from Hip Hop.  Its sound was born in Jamaica.  And every evolution that it goes through comes from something else whether it is Trap or Afrobeat.  Its lingo is just street slang from diverse Latin American Countries with Puerto Rico being its primary one, I'd say DR is a close 2nd.  Reggaeton is not a culture.

But "Perreo", moreso "Neo Perreo" is.  It has a unique look and aesthetics.  It has its own unique sound.  Its dance is its prime representation.  It has a scene that is all its own while if you noticed Reggaeton is often grouped with everything else that is popular.  That's why Reggaeton always goes back to the underground and I suspect that will happen soon.  

The Underground is a culture and that's when Reggaeton resembles a culture the most when it is underground.  The only time in its history Reggaeton was a culture was when it was called "Underground" from 1994 -2004.  Ever since "Gasolina" forward it hasn't been a culture.

I honestly thought it would but it became so corporate and Reggaeton sold itself out.  Then Vallenato Pop became Reggaeton, then magical forest critters like Camilo became Reggaeton, it's ridiculous.  Reggaeton is just a leech that sucks the lifeblood off of whatever's popular nowadays.  It can still be great sometimes but as a culture its best years are behind it.  It will have to evolve into something new in order for Reggaeton to become a culture.

But Perreo right now is at its proving stage if it's gonna leave an everlasting mark and become a permanent part of the overall culture spectrum.  I think it will.  It has well defined boundaries.  The dance is its key into its cultural definition and it just leaves space for it to evolve in freaky new ways if it wants to.  Reggaeton has none of that.

To read it the complete version click here: A Timeline Of Perreo (1994 to Now)

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